BooksAMA is a reddit for "Ask Me Anything" threads about books. If that idea sounds weird to you, check out the submission that started it all.

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Finish the book. BookAMAs are for books that you've read, not books that you're reading.

Search for the title of your book. Repeating books is allowed, but if you're repeating a book that's been done recently, join that conversation instead.

Mark books[f]for fiction, or[nf]for non-fiction.

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Assume spoilers Readers should beware that the discussion will most likely deal with important plot points. If you plan on reading the book, you may want to hold off on reading the AMA.

Have the book handy. You might want to refer back to the text.

If you've also read the book, it's your AMA, too. BookAMA is ultimately just another way of managing book discussion, so the more people who've read a given book, the better. Jump in and give your opinion.

I love the tension the Man feels in letting go of his old identity (rather, it being torn away from him) and trying to form a sense of self in a world without a nation, without structure, without a system. What did you think of the Man?

Also, how about that last paragraph? One of my favorite metaphors that I've ever read. Haunting.

I strongly disliked The Road. I felt like it was a bundle of post-apocalyptic cliches trying to be deep and not succeeding. The most gruesome parts, such as the slow cannibalism, seemed designed to shock for shock value's sake. I just don't feel like it brought anything new to the table that hadn't been done before. I acknowledge that my opinion is not the prevailing one.

It could be that you just don't like this style of writing. I would wager, though, that you didn't get it.

There are certain novels that are highly lauded that I don't like. I tried to read Lord of the Rings, but I just don't like fantasy. Someone persuaded me to watch the film and I didn't like that either. I wouldn't knock it though. I recognize its value.

You have to ask yourself what is going on. Why is this so critically acclaimed?

I teach high school English. I get lots of students who hate Steinbeck, Golding, Orwell, Shakespeare. They will often try to convince me that the scholars are mistaken. This stuff is crap. I will admit that it is the wrong book for that student at that time.

I have to agree with this part completely. I refused point blank to see value in Shakespeare when I was younger. Then I went to university and I fell in love with his work. Different time and a different perspective I suppose.

I'm the exact same way. I hated and feared Shakespeare. Now I'm in honors Shakespeare in college and I absolutely love it. He gets so deep into the human psyche. I also have an amazing teacher. That helps a lot.

I'm in the same boat as him. While the writing was strong, I didn't feel that the book introduced any new ideas to me. The themes of isolation, adaptation to a post apocalyptic foraging situation, mistrust of others, are all present in many post apocalyptic stories and also zombie stories. Zombie movies aren't about zombies. It's always other humans at the brink of animalism that are the scariest party of the stories.

The similarities between this book and fallout 3 are numerous. The Feeling was the same. The fried earth, the night travel, danger on the road. I'm not saying either copied the other, but i just don't see what is added by McCarthy.

The novel is essentially about paternal love. It is told in the form of a myth with the backdrop being a post-apocalyptic America. The man and the boy are not given names because they are archetypes: Everyman and Everyboy, if you will. You can see it as a journey through the underworld.

McCarthy sets this situation of paternal love against the backdrop of the atrocities that people are capable of when they are desperate and part of a mob.

In the end, there is hope. The man who saves the boy has children.

In terms of writing, I think McCarthy set himself extremely difficult limits to write within. The characters are archetypes. There is little dialogue because there is little to talk about. There is no character development. The setting is charred and full of ash everywhere, as bleak and nondescript as possible. There is no symbolism or meaning through metaphor. All he left himself to work with was the story of the journey. With this, he creates a narrative that is so compelling. It kept me reading.

There is more to say, but that is what I got out of it, summarized.

We all take something different from these kinds of stories. I happen to have a son who is the age of the boy in the story, so I tended to see it through that lens.

I feel like I "got it." I actually did not dislike the writing style. Have you read Patrick McCabe's "Butcher Boy?" Similar style, even down to the absence of punctuation, and I loved that.

My issue with The Road is that its content and themes felt tired. Bleak post-apocalyptic environments with individuals persevering against extremely brutal examples of inhumanity has been done again and again.

P.S. you and every other high school English teacher have got to stop telling people that they don't "get" a book when they simply don't like it. Literature has some measures by which it can be objectively judged, but like all art it is largely subjective. Sometimes people just don't like something. :-)

I did start with saying that it could be that you don't like the writing style.

You might want to read my summary of what I got from it, above. McCarthy had a young son when he wrote this book. I happen to have two boys, one the age of the boy in the book. So, I really saw this as a story of the love of a father for his son. I think that this novel does an amazing job of exploring that theme. I haven't seen it done elsewhere quite like this. Shakespeare explored paternal love for daughters many times, notably in the Tempest.

Sorry, if I offended you. When I say, "didn't get" I mean that you didn't interact with it enough to give it a chance on your own terms. I am not into canonized interpretations of texts. : )

My high school English teacher rejected the concept of "getting it" and I am so glad. Just because a lot of smart people find value in a specific work doesn't mean everyone has to or else they aren't looking at it right.

I also could not stand The Road, but I read it too long ago to offer any substance behind my offer of solidarity.

I'm sort of with you on that one. I didn't dislike it, but I don't regard it as highly as most do.

I've seen people say that it's "the most disturbing thing they've read", or as above they "had to step away from reading for about a week". It just didn't hit me like that, I'm not saying it wasn't a good story, and I was definitely sad at the end of it (the ending is pretty harsh on the emotions). But I just don't think it's the literary masterpiece people seem to hail it to be.

I'm new to AMA so hope I am doing this correctly. I have to say that The Road was one of my least favorite books of all time. Physically difficult to read bc of the lack of punctuation. Too stark I guess. Depressing. For me, the ending was not redeeming enough to make up for the horror and depressive description throughout the rest of it. I love my books but I gave this one away. Not my style I guess.

I know what you mean, the lack of punctuation made for an interesting style, but I found myself constantly going back and re-reading segments because I wasn't sure whether it was descriptive text, speech or thought. Taking into account what I said previously, i can understand why people love the book, I enjoyed it, but I just don't rate it as highly as others do.

This was one of those books that made me have to step away from reading for about a week. It took me some recovery time after reading something so terrifying, thought-provoking, and hauntingly beautiful. It is in my top three of my all time time favorites. Did you enjoy it as much as I did?

It takes a little while to adjust to the stark writing style. It is just so stripped down. The dialogue is so basic. But it all makes sense. In a situation like that, what are you thinking about? Survival - for the two of you.

The whole novel is based on narrative and diction. McCarthy takes the adage of getting the right word to the absolute extreme.

I'm always interested in hearing people's opinion on this book and what they think about key parts. To what extent do you think hope plays a role in the book? The entire way through it was dark and barren, and I found that I really struggled to find hope in the book.